We Know the Future Better Together
June 3, 2019Is it a bit stupid to start a post about the inaccuracy of crystal ball predictions by making a prediction? Probably. I have been saying for some time that we have entered an era of human interaction that is fundamentally different from any time in the past. In the past, big, impactful ideas that drive…
Who Says We Can’t Personalize High School Learning Systems?
May 30, 2019Given: student-centered, deeper learning is easier to deliver at lower grade levels. Given: College admissions practices continue to keep high schools more “in the box” of a worn out learning model. What if we stopped wringing our hands over things we can’t control, and changed what we can? That appears to have been the case…
The Simple Thesis of New Book THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution
May 21, 2019I just made two new slides that seem to sum up pretty much the argument for, and the content of, my new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, due out in the early fall. Whether we like it or not, this is the hand we have been dealt as K-12 educators today…
Fabulous Advanced Praise For My New Book: THRIVE
May 9, 2019My new book, THRIVE: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution, won’t be out until the fall, but I just had to share at least one bit of advanced praise, from Andy Calkins, Director of education innovation leading Next Generational Learning Challenges: Imagine you are climbing a mountain with a large group of people. Hard…
The Power of 10,000 Small Ideas
April 23, 2019We have passed a fundamental tipping point in the evolution of human connectivity. For millennia, big ideas spread through a highly-constricted pipeline. Masses of humanity listened to a handful of political, religious, or social influencers and followed where those few led. Humans were a metaphorical crowd of 10,000 people listening for one good idea from…
Build a Team of Teams at Your School
April 15, 2019What does fighting a terror-based insurgency have in common with running a school? Fortunately the daily events are very different. But school leaders can learn critical lessons about managing large, complex organizations from how military, and increasingly business, leaders are learning to adapt to rapidly changing challenges. Retired General Stanley McCrystal led American forces in…
Schools Are Not Forever
April 4, 2019There is something in our affinity for the institution of education that makes it seem immutable and timeless. Schools that have been part of our lives will always be there. New schools will rise as communities grow, but it seems unfair or tragic when schools disappear as communities wane. Yet the reality is that the…
39X: Best, Most Affordable PD I Know; Register Now!
February 14, 2019Most educators who read my blog or follow me on Twitter are already in the “deeper learning” choir. You believe that learning should be increasing student-centric; inquiry, project, and thematically-based; incorporating creativity and design more than recitation and regurgitation. Some educators need to re-tool their skills to shift classroom practice to “get there”. I don’t…
Where Is the Balance of Technology and Humanity in K-12 Education?
January 25, 2019In his new book, Technology vs Humanity, futurist Gerd Leonhard explores the really big changes that are driving fundamental shifts in how we all lead our lives, and may, within our own lifetimes, challenge the very paradigm of what it means to be human. These shifts will have tremendous impact on the role and relevance…
Young Voices From Pine Ridge: A Groundbreaking Student-led Project in Virtual Reality
January 21, 2019How might we educate the rising generation to be more empathetic and understanding of what it means to be an American? How might we help heal increasingly deep divides by allowing young people to experience our world through the eyes of “the other” in ways that are both intellectually and emotionally engaging? If you have…
Two Profound Must-Reads: “Where the Crawdads Sing” and “Educated”
January 10, 2019What is the nature of empathy? Can we really see through the eyes of those with radically different life experiences? Are we getting any better at this critical social construct, or just hoping that we will? Over the winter break I read two profound must-read books, written by or about women who have lived lives…
What Keeps School Leaders Up at Night?
January 4, 2019What is it that REALLY keeps independent school leaders up at night? For much of 2017 and early 2018 I was collecting feedback on a series of simple, provocative, open-ended prompts from independent school heads, senior administrators, and trustees. I have just published some results in Independent School Magazine. Check it out; I think you…
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